In this paper we examine optimal bidding without the independence axiom in a unified framework which allows for a clear graphical representation. Thus, we can show very simply the independence axiom to be a necessary and sufficient condition on preferences for strategical equivalence of the two first-price and second-price auctions, respectively, and for the second-price sealed-bid auction to be demand revealing. The analysis reveals that the betweenness property is necessary and sufficient for the ascending-bid auction to be demand revealing while (...) optimal bids exceed (are less than) bidders' valuations, iff preferences are quasiconcave (quasiconvex). Furthermore, it can be shown that fanning out (fanning in) leads to a higher (lower) selling-price in open than in sealed-bid auctions. (shrink)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present implications of the seller's ability to bid in the four classical auction forms, with independent private values: English, Dutch, first‐ and second‐price auctions.Design/methodology/approachUnder each auction form, the identity of the winning bidder and the expected winning bid are compared between the case when the seller may bid and when he cannot, using equilibrium bidder strategies. The seller's incentive to bid is evaluated.FindingsThe strategies and the welfare results differ with auction type and underlying (...) information assumptions – bidders are either aware or unaware of the seller's ability to bid. In the Dutch and the first‐price auctions, seller‐bidding does not affect any classical results. In the English and the second‐price auctions, it leads to no lower expected prices than without it and higher prices with positive probability. In the English and the second‐price auctions, the seller bids above his reservation value and may unintentionally win the auction. These auctions result in inefficiency with positive probability.Practical implicationsThe English and the second‐price auctions are the most common real‐world auctions. In these auctions, the seller's ability to bid – secretly or publicly – redistributes welfare among participants and introduces a possibility of inefficiency. Making this ability publicly known does not solve the latter problem. Auctioneers must prevent the seller from bidding, or must select a different auction form when seller‐bidding is anticipated.Originality/valueThe paper clarifies to regulators, auction designers, bidders, and other readers which auction forms are susceptible to subversion by seller‐bidding and what the potential damages are. (shrink)

Lakatos is considered to be a Popperian who adapted his Hegelian-Marxist training to critical philosophy. I claim this is too narrow and misses Lakatos' goal of understanding scientific inquiry as heuristic inquiry—something he did not find in Popper, but found in Polanyi. Archival material shows that his ‘new method' struggled to overcome what he saw as the Popperian handicap, by using Polanyi.

The paper presents an approach for developing multi-agent reinforcement learning systems that are made up of a coalition of modular agents. We focus on learning to segment sequences (sequential decision tasks) to create modular structures, through a bidding process that is based on reinforcements received during task execution. The approach segments sequences (and divides them up among agents) to facilitate the learning of the overall task. Notably, our approach does not rely on a priori knowledge or a priori structures. Initial (...) experiments demonstrated the basic promise of the approach. This work shows how bidding and reinforcement learning can be usefully combined, thus pointing to a new research direction. (shrink)

The article presents an Internet experiment where subjects sequentially bid for basic gifts and binary-lotteries on these gifts in incentive compatible Vickrey auctions. Subjects exhibit uniformly pessimistic prize-weighting in spite of precautions to reduce suspicion and prohibit collusion. The bids for lotteries are close to the minimal payable value, even when the probability of obtaining a better prize is larger than 50%. Prize-weighting becomes even more conservative as the distance in value of payable prizes increases. The twofold aversive affect appears (...) for three distinct groups of students; we demonstrate, however, that the same subjects overweight small win-probabilities in standard binary-choice. (shrink)

A usual argument in finance refers to no arbitrage opportunities for the positivity of the bid-ask spread. Here we follow the decision theory approach and show that if positivity of the bid-ask spread is identified with strong risk aversion for an expected utility market-maker, this is no longer true for a rank-dependent expected utility one. For such a decision-maker only a very weak form of risk aversion is required, a result which seems more in accordance with his actual behavior. We (...) conclude by showing that the no-trade interval result of Dow and Werlang (1992a) remains valid for a rank-dependent expected utility market-maker merely exhibiting this weak form of risk aversion. (shrink)

This article analyzes the judicial framework of the takeover bid regulation in Lithuania, identifies the obstacles to the more effective regulation and considers possible solutions. As laid down in the Directive 2004/25/EC of the European Parliament and the Council as well as in the Law on Securities of the Republic of Lithuania, if a natural or legal person acquires a specified percentage of voting rights in the company (the issuer), which gives him a certain degree of control of the company, (...) this person must announce and implement a mandatory takeover bid to protect the minority shareholder rights. The regulation process of takeover bids in Lithuania, however, encounters several obstacles in aiming to increase the protection of minority shareholders. The authors claim that the main problems preventing a more efficient takeover regulation are first, issues related to the counting rules of the voting rights and second, the lengthy process of implementing mandatory takeover bids (the implementation process could last up to six years). Finally, the definition of a fair price of the security presents another obstacle to a more efficient takeover regulation as well. The matter of a fair and reasonable price is the most important in emerging markets, such as Lithuania. (shrink)

Different evaluators typically disagree how to rank different candidates due to their idiosyncratic concerns for the various qualities of the candidates. Our ranking mechanism asks all evaluators to submit individual bids assigning a monetary amount for each possible rank order. The rules specify for all possible vectors of such individual bids the collectively binding rank order of candidates and the payments, due to the different evaluators. Three requirements uniquely determine procedurally fair ranking rules as a game form. Only when additionally (...) assuming exogenously given true evaluations of collective rankings, which may be commonly or only privately known, and—in case of private information—beliefs concerning the evaluations by others, this game form determines proper games and allows for equilibrium analysis. After an illustration, the approach is adjusted to situations where one wants to rank only acceptable sets of candidates thus rendering the mechanism even more attractive. (shrink)

There is a tension between Robert Talisse's rejection of Deweyan democracy and his project of formulating a workable Peircean conception of democracy. If he follows Rawls in taking reasonable pluralism to be a permanent condition, then his Peircean conception of democracy is undermined. But, if he does not commit to the permanence of reasonable pluralism, then his rejection of Deweyan democracy is problematic. Since he chooses the latter interpretation, Talisse must bite the bullet and recognize that Peircean epistemic perfectionists cannot (...) yet bid a definitive farewell to Deweyan democracy. (shrink)

This paper presents a GA-based multi-agent reinforce- ment learning bidding approach (GMARLB) for perform- ing multi-agent reinforcement learning. GMARLB inte- grates reinforcement learning, bidding and genetic algo- rithms. The general idea of our multi-agent systems is as follows: There are a number of individual agents in a team, each agent of the team has two modules: Q module and CQ module. Each agent can select actions to be performed at each step, which are done by the Q module. While the (...) CQ module determines at each step whether the agent should continue or relinquish control. Once an agent relinquishes its control, a new agent is selected by bidding algorithms. We applied GA-based GMARLB to the Backgammon game. The experimental results show GMARLB can achieve a su- perior level of performance in game-playing, outperforming PubEval, while the system uses zero built-in knowledge. (shrink)

This paper investigates the campaign waged by Islamic scholars affiliating to the Shādhiliyya-Jazūliyya Sufi order among tribal people in the mountain region of Northern Morocco in the sixteenth century. It examines these scholars’ campaign against bidʿa in the mountains, focusing on their attacks against traditional practices related to marriage and conjugal life that they considered religiously and morally aberrant. The primary source discussed here is a guidebook for marriage, titled Etiquette of Husband and Wife, containing diverse legal doctrines, fatwās, anecdotes, (...) and other accounts. Based on this document, we examine these scholars’ ideological background, the methods they used, and the kinds of practices they censured. They intended to enhance strict sexual segregation by using sufi masters’ religious authority and dhikr to conquer the resistance of the tribal people who had allowed men and women to mix each other publicly. They also demanded a hierarchical structure of religious education, with the family as the base for the Islamization of juridical norms in tribal society. This paper shows that the people did not strictly follow the scholars’ dictates because these restrictions were incompatible with their way of life in this region. It is probable that the leaders of the campaign afforded to the cause of the Saʿdids because they expected that their activity would proceed better under a new regime with more effective governance and control over society. (shrink)

Lowest-unique sealed-bid auctions are auctions with endogenous participation, costly bids, and the lowest bid among all unique bids wins. Properties of symmetric NEs are studied. The symmetric NE with the lowest expected gains is the maximin outcome under symmetric strategies, and it is the solution to a mathematical program. Comparative statics for the number of bidders, the value of the item and the bidding cost are derived. The two bidders’ auction is equivalent to the Hawk–Dove game. Simulations of replicator dynamics (...) provide numerical evidence that the symmetric NE with the lowest expected gains is also asymptotically stable. (shrink)

b>: A cooperative team of agents may perform many tasks better than isolated agents. The question is how coopera-.

Experts play a crucial role in underpinning decision-making in most management situations. While recent studies have disclosed the impacts of individuals’ inherent cognition and the external environment on expert performance, these two-dimensional mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, we identified 14 factors that influence expert performance in a bid evaluation and applied cross-impact matrix multiplication to examine the interdependence of the factors. The results indicate that the two dimension-related factors affect each other within a person–environment system, and a poor (...) situation perception gives rise to the deviation of expert performance. Expert performance can be improved if external supervision and expertise are strengthened through deliberate practices. The study proposes a new expert performance research tool, elucidates its mechanism in bid evaluation from a cognitive psychology perspective, and provides guidelines for its improvement in workplace contexts. (shrink)

تناول هذا الكتاب بالبحث فلسفة ابن رشد (الرشدية) في فكر محمد عابد الجابري، واعتمدت على فرضية مفادها: إن فلسفة ابن رشد(الرشدية) تشكل حجر الزاوية في فكر الجابري، وسعىي إلى استخلاص الرشدية من بين أعماله، وتحليلها وتصنيفها، من خلال الإجابة عن سؤالين أساسيين، وهما: كيف فهم الجابري فلسفة ابن رشد، وقدمها للقارئ العربي؟ وكيف وظف (الرشدية) في أعماله الفكرية والنهضوية؟ من خلال منهجية تحليلية لا تكتفي بالوصف، وإنما تتعدى ذلك لتحليل الرشدية عند الجابري، وتصنيفها، واستخراج ما تتميز به، بتتبعها، وجمعها، وتصنيفها (...) في مختلف أعماله. وخلصت إلى عدد من الاستنتاجات، وأهمها: إن رشدية الجابري تميزت بجمعها بين مستويي الفهم، والتوظيف، ضمن مشروع واحدٍ يصح أن يطلق عليه مشروعٌ تصحيحي يرمي إلى تصحيح الصورة السائدة في الفكر العربي عن ابن رشد وفلسفته، وإن هذا المشروع مسكون من أوله إلى آخره بهمٍّ نهضوي يبحث صاحبه، من خلال التنقيب في التراث الرشدي، عن إجابات لسؤال النهضة والتقدم، وبينت أن فكر ابن رشد، هو الذي يصلح بين كل هذا التراث، ليعيش معنا واقعنا اليوم، والجابري بذلك لا يدعو إلى إرجاع عقارب الساعة إلى الوراء أبدا، وتبني المحتوى العرفي للرشدية، في الفلسفة، أو الطبيعة، أو الفلك، أو الطب؛ لعدم إمكانية استعادته؛ لإنه أصبح جزءا من الماضي، وما يدعو له الجابري هو استعادة المضمون الايديولوجي لفلسفة ابن رشد، أو أسماها "الروح الرشدية" التجديدية، والعقلانية في التعامل مع واقعنا الراهن، وقضايانا المعاصرة. (shrink)

In recent years, there are many reasons for the frequent safety accidents in the construction field. The most controversial and typical one that firmly correlated with China’s national condition is the low-price bid winning and the general subcontracting management, which probably have a great impact on the unsafe behavior intention of workers on the construction site. In order to figure out their internal relation, a quantitative statistical analysis of the unsafe behavior intentions of construction workers in the Beijing area was (...) conducted through the on-site questionnaire considering three main variables, namely, general subcontract management, reasonable low-cost bid winning, and construction experiences. Meanwhile, the correlation, regression, and mediating effects of different influencing factors were analyzed through a regressive model to quantify the impact of each variable on the unsafe behavior intention of construction workers. The results showed that the influence of low-price bid winning on the unsafe behavior intention of on-site workers is faint. This is mainly because, in the case of labor buyer’s market, the actual salary of workers is not relevant to whether the project is awarded at a low price. However, the general subcontracting management has a great impact on the unsafe behavior intention of on-site workers. At the same time, low-price bid winning also indirectly affects the strength of general subcontracting safety management, which has an indirect impact on the unsafe behavior intention of on-site workers. Generally, it is of greater significance to enhance the strength of the general subcontracting management and to formulate relevant regulations to guarantee the safety of construction workers. (shrink)

This article offers an in-depth analysis of Carl Schmitt's social ontology to explain how and why he came to reject exceptionalist decisionism. To this end, the authors unearth the considerable shifts in terms of social ontology that paved the way for this conceptual turn. The gist of their argument is that Schmitt's Political Theology (1922) espoused a Hobbesian conception of the political as the possibility condition for stable patters of social interaction. Though the first three chapters of Political Theology were (...) originally designed for and published in a posthumous Festschrift for Max Weber, his understanding of the social was indebted to a Hobbesian legacy. Nonetheless, shortly thereafter, he began to revise his conception of the social and to put stress on the organisational dynamics of social institutions as independent of there being a political authority. From 1927 through to 1950, Schmitt never got back to his 1922 exceptionalist view of politics and rather sought to make sense of how the state could and should draw the contents of the legal order from the normative life of social institutions. (shrink)

Jābirī, Muḥammad ʻĀbid; ʻAbd al-Raḥmān, Ṭāhā; philosophy, Arab; Morocco..

Jābirī, Muḥammad ʻĀbid; criticism and interpretation; modernism; philosophy; 20th centuary.

Lowest-unique sealed-bid auctions are auctions with endogenous participation, costly bids, and the lowest bid among all unique bids wins. Properties of symmetric NEs are studied. The symmetric NE with the lowest expected gains is the maximin outcome under symmetric strategies, and it is the solution to a mathematical program. Comparative statics for the number of bidders, the value of the item and the bidding cost are derived. The two bidders’ auction is equivalent to the Hawk–Dove game. Simulations of replicator dynamics (...) provide numerical evidence that the symmetric NE with the lowest expected gains is also asymptotically stable. (shrink)

By following a recently published paper entitled “The effect of publishing a highly cited paper on a journal’s impact factor: a case study of the Review of Particle Physics” in Learned Publishing, we argue that it is not suitable for journals to bid for the right to publish a review that is likely to be highly cited. A few suggestions are also provided to deal with the special case of the Review of Particle Physics phenomenon.